Attachment for supply tanks of automobiles



Jan. 26 1926.

J. W. FARRIOR ATTACHMENT FOR SUPPLY TANKS 0F AUTOMOBILES Filed July 24, 1925 .Tzcl

. ATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 26, 1926 JAMES WILLIAM FARRIOR, or WARSAW, NORTH CAROLINA.

ATTACHMENT FOR SUPPLY TANKS F AUTOMOBILES.

Application filed July 24, 1925. Serial No. 45,892.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES W. FARRIOR, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Warsaw, in the county of Duplin and State of North Carolina, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in an Attachment for Supply Tanks of Automobiles, of which the following is a specification:

This invention relates to an attachment for gasoline supply tanks and has for its object the provision of a device for cutting off the supply of fuel to an engine when the fuel has reached a predetermined level in a tank for indicating to the driver of an automobile the necessity of refilling the tank.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a device for cutting off the flow of gasoline from a supply tank as a warning of the decreasing fuel, the device including means for resetting so that the remaining quantity of fuel may be used to reach the nearest supply station.

A further object of the invention is the provision of a device for cutting ofl the fuel supply to an automobile engine as a warning that the supply of fuel is nearly exhausted, the device being adjustable so that the supply may be stopped at various levels.

This invention will be best understood from a consideration of the following detailed description, in View of the 'accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification; nevertheless it is to be understood that the invention is not confined to the disclosure, being susceptible of such changes and modifications which shall define no ma terial departure from the salient features of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

Figure 1 is a fragmentary vertical section of an automobile showing my invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 isa vertical section of the device for cutting off the fuel supply. 7

Figure 3 is a vertical section of a device for varying the quantity of fuel that will remain in the tank.

Referring more particularly to the drawings 10 designates an automobile having an engine 11 equipped with a carbureter 12. A fuel tank 13 is mounted under a seat 14 and above a floor 15.

The fuel feed supply is of the gravity type andthe tank 13 is normally connected directly to the carburetor by a rigid pipe. In the present instance, a device in the form of a rod 16 is provided having an inverted U-shaped channel comprising branches 17 and 18. A channel 19 extends upwardly from the U-shaped channel and between the branches 17 and 18. v

A flexible tube 20 is threaded into the upper end of channel19 and has its free end 21 inserted into the usual cap closure 22 of the tank 13. A flexible tube 23 is connected with the lower end of channel 17 and with the sediment bulb 24E of tank 13. A flexible tubing 25 has one end connected with the lower end of channel-18 and its other end with the carbureter 12.

The. device 16 is supported by a bar 26 which is bolted at one end as shown at 27 to said by-pass. The other end of the bar has a perforation through which is inserted the threaded end of an adjusting rod 28. Bolts 29 and 30 fasten the bar to said rod.

Rod 28 is slidably mounted in a vertically disposed guide 31 having a flange 32 secured to the floor 15. The rod has laterally projecting finger pieces 33 projecting through elongated slots 34 in the guide. Vertical flanges 35 are carried by the guide adjacent the slots and are provided with notches 36 to receive the handles or finger pieces 33 for supporting the rod and likewise the device 16 at various heights.

The operation of my device is as follows:

Normally the fuel from tank 13 passes through the flexible tube 23 through branches 17 and 18 in the device 16 and rises in channel 19 and tube 20 to. a height which is defined by the level of the fuel in tank 13. The fuel passes from branch 18 to and through tube 25 to thecarbureter 12.

When the level of'the fuelin tank 13 is lowered sufficiently to fall below the horizontal channel 37 connecting channels 17 and 18 the flow of fuel is cut off and the engine will be stopped a short time thereafter. The operator of the car .must then release finger pieces 33 from the support ing notches 36 and permit the rod 28 and the connected lowest notch is reached. The finger pieces are then returned to this notch when the carbureter will be supplied with gasoline since the channel 37 has been placed below the level of the fuel in tank 13. The operator will then proceed to the nearest filling station in order to refill the tank.

The members 33 may he placed in any notch desired so that various quantities of device 16 to lower. until the i fuel may be retained in the tank before the device cuts off the supply of fuel. When the car is being operated in a city where filling stations are numerous the device may be. set to retain a less quantity of fuel as a warning than when driving in the country where filling stations are less frequently met.

The pipe 20 between the device 16 and the top of the tank is employed to prevent siphoning the fuel through the branch chan nels l7 and 1 8.

The discharge conduit 37 opens through the side wall of the device 16 and has a threaded portion adapted 'to receive a threaded plug 37 for closing said conduit when the conduit 18 is employed. If it be desired to use the conduit 37 as the dis charge conduit, the plug 37 will be removed and the pipe 25 applied to the threaded end of conduit 37 while plug 87 will be employed in closing conduit 18.

in other words either a U-shaped conduit maybeemployed or a T-shaped conduit may be used, since the efliciency of the device depends upon the discharge of the fuel from a point in the vertical conduit 17 which will prevent the drain age of all the fuel from the tank 13 and it is immaterial whether the discharge tubing 25 is directly connected withthe channel 37 or with the channel 18. The heightat which the channel 17 is tapped is the same in both cases.

1. In an automobile, the combination of a fuel supplyitank, a carbureter, a fuel linev connecting the isupply'tank with the carburetor, and comprising a unitary conduit device for cutting off the fuel supply, said device constituting a portion of the feed line and being movable bodily with flexible connections included in the fuel line where by the movable conduit device may be elevated or lowered relative to the bottom of the fuel tank and a separate tube communicating with the conduit device and movable therewith causing in cooperation with said movable device cessation of the flow of liquid from the tank at a predetermined level of the liquid in said tank.

2. In an automobile, the combination of a fuel supply tank, a carbureter, and a unitary device for cutting off the fuel supply, said device comprising a conducting channel including a substantially vertical conduit and a discharge conduit in open communication with the vertical conduit at a point between the opp osite ends of the vertical conduit, said unitary device being movable relative to the bottom of the tank for varying the horizontal position of the discharge conduit where said discharge conduit is connected to the vertical conduit, the portion of th Vertical conduit above the connection between the discharge conduit and said vertical conduit forming means to cause cessation of the flow of liquid from the tank at a predetermined level of the liquid in said tank, a flexible tube connecting the lower end of the vertical conduit with the tank,

.a point between the opposite ends of the vertical conduit, said unitary device being movable relative to the bottom of the tank forlvarying the horizontal position of the discharge conduit where said discharge couduit is connected to v the vertical conduit, the portion of the vertical conduit above the connection between the discharge conduit and said vertical conduitforming means to cause cessation of the flow of liquid from the tank at a predete mined level of the liquid in said tank, a flexible tube connecting the lower end of the vertical conduit with the tank, a tube connecting the discharge conduit with the carbureter, a flexible tube connecting the upper end of the tank with the upper end of the vertical tube, and means for adjustably positioning the vertical conduit in any one of ,a plurality of different positions for varying the horizontal position of that portion of the dis chargeconduit where connected to the vertical' conduit.

el. In an automobile, the combination of a fuel supply tank, a carbureteiga block pro-- vided with a substantially vertical channel and a discharge channel in open communication with the substantially vertical chan nel at a point between the opposite ends of the vertical channel, said block being bodily movable relative to the bottom of the supply tank, a flexibleconnection between the bottom of the supply tank and the lower end of the vertical channel, and a flexible connection between the end of the discharge channel and the carbureter whereby the block may be elevated or lowered relative to the bottom of the supply tank, and a flexible tube in open communication with the upper end of the vertical channel and the top of the supply tank, said block when moved being adapted to displace the connection between the discharge channel and the vertical channel above the bottom of the tank and for causing cessation of the flow of liquid from the tank at a predetermined level of the liquid in said tank.

JAMES \VILLIAM FARRIOR. 

